


Could You Be my Friend?

by bubblelaureno



Category: Love Island (Video Game)
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-16
Updated: 2020-11-16
Packaged: 2021-03-09 20:55:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,664
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27592358
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bubblelaureno/pseuds/bubblelaureno
Summary: When Marisol and Alecto end up doing a group project together for Potions, will Alecto finally act on her crush on Marisol or befriend her, or both?This is a Harry Potter AU.
Relationships: Marisol/Main Character (Love Island)
Comments: 2
Kudos: 7





	Could You Be my Friend?

**Author's Note:**

> This is my entry for the monthly prompt competition from r/LITGFanFiction on Reddit.  
> https://www.reddit.com/r/LITGFanFiction/comments/jmcy8o/prompt_comp_2/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=iossmf
> 
> I don’t know how to hyperlink stuff and make it all neat and pretty, so hopefully a direct link will suffice. You can find me on Tumblr, Twitter and Instagram as bubblelaureno and on Reddit as narcissasdaffodil. I’m open to talking with people so feel free to let me know what you think, or check out my accounts in general.

Alecto sat in the Slytherin common room, curling her legs up underneath her on one of the armchairs and watching the water through the window. Just being close to water calmed her down. To her relief, the common room was deserted which was strange for a Friday night. Having to dodge Annie was taking up so much of her time, why the other girl had absolutely no clue that they weren’t friends anymore and how maybe, just maybe staying friends with a group of bullies wouldn’t endear Alecto to her in the slightest.  _ She can’t possibly be that oblivious, right? _

She heard the sound of footsteps, and the leather of the armchair across from her squeaking as someone sat down. She looked up, pushing her glasses up her nose and hoping that the person across from her wasn’t Annie.

“Don’t worry, it’s not Annie. Just me.” Lottie kept her voice hushed, giving Alecto a soft smile.

“Phew. I’m fine, well, as fine as I can be when I’m trying to avoid someone who just won’t get the message. Etienne also, he’s being strange himself. Seems so hung up on keeping her around for a strange reason, along with trying to influence me to not befriend Sophie or Marisol. Both of them have been better to me than Etienne and Annie have, Sophie was my rock when dealing with this mess. Of course I have you also.” She let out an exasperated sigh, making eye contact with Lottie. A large hardback Potions book lay open on the small table between the two armchairs, she had been reading it until it made her fall asleep. 

“Anyway, you likely didn’t come here to listen to me complain, right? How are you?” she copied Lottie’s smile, allowing her voice to soften slightly.

“I’m fine, just came from the library actually. Lucas and Priya asked me to find you and Marisol, apparently you all agreed to meet there for Potions’ project reasons? So I wanted to give you a nudge.” Lottie explained.  _ Oops. There was definitely something you forgot, at least you know now.  _

“I didn’t forget intentionally, was actually reading stuff for it, but fell asleep. Thanks for the reminder though. Want to come with me? Unless you’re doing something.” Alecto uncurled her legs and stood, grabbing her bag and the large tome on the table. She yawned, checking her watch. She was still a little bit tired, but tomorrow was Saturday so she could easily catch up on sleep entirely then. 

“Sure, why not. I can always help if you guys haven’t decided yet. My group are mostly done.”

Lottie stood, retrieving her bag from beside the armchair.

“I wonder if Marisol forgot too, she’s usually early to everything, which so am I.” She felt her voice start to float away at the mere mention of Marisol, and Lottie nudged her, raising an eyebrow. Alecto’s cheeks flushed bright red and instead of addressing the cause, she started walking quickly with bigger strides than normal. She was practically jogging due to her short legs.  _ You do have a habit of running from possibly awkward situations, don’t you? But now you’ll be running into one, you can’t even think about Marisol without getting lost in a fairytale daydream. You still don’t understand why she chose to help you out last year, and technically befriend you. She seemed happy to be relatively isolated, you wish you could be the same sometimes. Some people are more trouble than they’re worth. _

She was halfway down the corridor before Lottie caught up, linking arms with her. “Wow. One minute you were there, the next you entirely vanished. I only had to mention Marisol once, and you converted into crush mode! All fluffy, far away voice, dreamy eyes and general blushing. I wonder how crush mode will impact having to do a project with her.” Lottie teased, Alecto turning her head away and completely blanking her, moving away from Lottie and causing her to unlink their arms.  _ You can avoid crush mode. You must be able to. Why is it only her? Not quite only her though. You like Sophie like that but that doesn’t impact how you interact with her quite as much as it does with Marisol.  _

They walked to the library in silence, Lottie with a knowing smile on her face. Once they arrived, Alecto stretched on her tiptoes, scanning for Lucas and Priya. Sometimes she cursed being only 5 foot tall, it regularly caused issues. 

“Um, you could just ask me, you know that right? They’re on the table behind the Potions section, so straight down that way, then turn left when those shelves end.” Lottie whispered, moving closer to her and scanning around for Madam Pince, the librarian.

“Thanks.” Alecto’s words were still clipped from earlier, she made her way in that direction with Lottie trailing behind her. Sure enough, Lucas and Priya sat at the table, the two Gryffindors having a selection of Potions books stacked on the table, including ink and parchment sitting abandoned in the space next to one of the free seats. The table had so much stuff on it, it was a job to work out where the stuff ended and where the table began. 

“I’ll leave you here, just realised I need to meet Sophie.” Lottie said, disappearing in the opposite direction before Alecto could respond.  _ You were slightly too sharp towards her earlier, she might be a little hurt. _

“Umm...can I sit down? Or is the space reserved for anyone?” Alecto asked, her voice soft and uncertain, looking between the two Gryffindors. Priya nodded, clearing stuff from in front of the seat beside her and chucking it on the other side of the table. Alecto took a seat, placing the heavy book on the table.

“Excuse the mess. We’re still in the process of researching. Have you seen Marisol, at all? She was supposed to be here too.” Priya asked, looking over to Alecto. 

“No, sorry. I was researching myself earlier, had free time to kill. But ended up having a nap in the process. I didn’t intentionally forget, I promise.” Alecto explained, ducking her head slightly, long dark hair falling forward in front of her eyes.  _ Hopefully they’re not annoyed. You would be too if you were in the same position. _

“It’s fine, you’re only 10 minutes late. You did say that you’d be here early, so that’s why Lottie offered to check up on you. You haven’t missed anything, we were just scanning through books. Did you find anything of use, perhaps?” Lucas asked, gesturing to the large hardback open in front of Alecto.

She flicked through the pages, scanning until she found a passage relating to moonstones. 

“Maybe the Polyjuice Potion could work? Or moonstones? We just have to pick either an ingredient or a specific Potion, and it likely makes sense to choose something covered in the O.W.L curriculum, right? I’ve got a book about types of gemstones and their uses in potions here.” She pushed the book over to him and he took it, starting to read the pages open before him. 

“That’s a smart idea. That means we’re already picking something covered in the exams which will make it easier to learn later on. I’m fine with moonstones though.” Priya nodded. “Potions isn’t a strong subject of mine either so I’m fine with whatever you two choose, you’re both the best fifth years in Potions for Gryffindor and Slytherin respectively. Along with Severus Snape and Lily Evans too.” Priya gave both of them a wide grin. Alecto naturally smiled back, her eyes lighting up at the compliment. Her dark brown eyes would change colour subtly when she was happy, turning from dark chocolate to amber in small circles. She blushed, fiddling with the ends of her dark curls, hiding behind her fringe.  _ How sweet! Now, why didn’t you ever consider mingling with people from other houses prior to last year? Etienne doesn’t count, you’ve been friends since his family first moved to the UK. _

Lucas nodded. “Moonstones are fine by me. It’s a relief to work with someone who has a talent for Potions too, I usually have to carry group or paired work myself.” 

In that moment, Marisol appeared unexpectedly from behind the bookcase. Her cheeks were flushed and she was clearly out of breath, coming to a quick stop by the free chair across from Alecto. 

“Where have you been? We’ve sorted the project topic anyway.” Priya asked, looking up at her. The slightly sharp tone was different to how they had treated Alecto earlier, but Alecto checked her watch, noticing how half an hour had already gone by.  _ She’s somehow 40 minutes late. You panicked slightly earlier at being late, but 5 or 10 minutes is nothing. More than that is a bit rude. _

“Sorry for being late. I...I completely forgot…” Marisol shifted nervously under the weight of Priya’s gaze, moving from foot to foot. Her voice was strange and appeared distant, Alecto looked up to notice how Marisol was staring down at the floor. Lucas removed a stack of books from the table in front of the free seat, scanning their spines and going to put them back. Alecto reached over and stacked the rest of the stuff that was in the way, putting it in a neat pile in the middle of the table. Marisol sat down across from Alecto, her head still dipped.

“So...what are we doing then?” Marisol asked, her voice small. She bit her lip and her gaze was locked on the table, studying the patterns in the wood before her.  _ Is she okay? She’s acting so strange. _

Silence coats the table in a dark blanket. As Lucas returns to his seat, the only noise is the sound of the chair scraping against the floor. Alecto clears her throat and decides to break the silence herself.

“Moonstones. We have to pick either an ingredient and state the uses of it in potions and useful properties, or pick a specific potion and what that’s used for and details about the potion. It made sense to choose moonstones, as that’s part of the exam material for O.W.Ls.” She explained, looking over to Marisol, giving her a soft smile. Marisol’s gaze still remains locked on the table, and Alecto reaches over and takes her hand gently, causing her to look up. Marisol’s eyes are red rimmed from tears, and the sadness is displayed in her eyes.

“Are you okay? I just wanted to check on you.” She asked. 

“I’m...I’m fine. Not really, but I’d like a distraction for a bit. Thanks for caring though.” Marisol’s voice is unsteady, and she struggles to get her words out, past a lump in her throat. She sends Alecto a watery and shaky smile.

Alecto lets go of her hand, giving her a concerned look. Marisol retrieves parchment and ink from her bag and her hand shakes as she’s putting it on the table, nearly spilling her ink pot. She sets it down, retrieving a quill and puts her bag on the floor. Her hands won’t stop shaking, even as she picks up and puts down her quill, so she eventually decides to place her hands flat on the table. 

“Alecto, have you got any notes? Or did you just read up on moonstones?” Lucas asked, looking over to her.

“I just did the reading, but I can do notes if you like, my handwriting is neat. Maybe if two of us do notes from different books, then we can collate everything together. Or I can do the written part entirely. I don’t mind.” She replied.

“It’ll make more sense if two of us do the project part, and two do the written half. Maybe Alecto and Lucas do the written part, then I’ll work with Marisol for the other half. It might help if Lucas and I switch places too, so we can communicate easier.” Priya chipped in, standing up. Lucas nodded, grabbing his stuff along with the large book Alecto had found for light reading before and sat down next to her.

The gemstone book was open to the moonstone chapter in front of them. 

“I actually bought this myself for light reading over the summer. It’s lucky I brought it to school with me.” She explained, keeping her voice low.

Lucas smirked at that, eyeing the large hardback carefully. “How is it light reading? It’s over 1,000 pages!” He asked, looking at her curiously.

“I’m a quick reader and read a lot. Now, any more questions or shall we get on with this?” She grinned at him, actually enjoying the teasing despite herself. 

“How about we split it, so you do the properties and technical details and I do the uses in potions?” Lucas asked, and Alecto nodded in return, picking up her Self-Refilling Quill and scanning the book, starting to make neat and organised notes. 

The work itself was simple and easy, she made sure not to rush her notes, keeping them understandable by going slowly. The time flew by, eventually both of them had finished their separate sets of notes. She checked her watch and gasped in surprise. 

“It’s 8:00 already! How did that happen?” She said in shock, staring at the clock face.

“We’ve been here for 3 hours already, so that does make sense. Time flies when you’re doing something useful, it seems. We’re done anyway, just waiting for Priya and Marisol.” Lucas said, moving his quill out of the way.

She nodded, looking over to the other side of the table. “Umm...guys, we’ve sorted the notes out. So just let us know when you’re done, it’s currently 8pm so I’d prefer to be back before curfew.” She said, catching Priya’s attention.

“Let’s sort it another day. I’m tired anyway.” Priya said, looking frustrated.  _ Was it really that difficult? Maybe because Marisol’s a bit off.  _

Both Lucas and Alecto nodded in response and started to pack away their stuff, neatly storing away the notes. Priya joined them and started to put away the books, turning the table from a glorified bookshelf back into a table again.

Eventually the table was neat once more, and Priya and Lucas left, arranging a time with Alecto for the next meeting. Alecto stood and took a seat next to Marisol, who remained seated with her head resting on her hands. Her belongings had already been packed away, but she still remained seated, staring into space. Everything falls silent once more until Marisol speaks up.

“You can go, if you like. I’ll be fine…” her voice breaks by the end of her sentence, fresh tears escaping from her eyes. She turned to Alecto, crying into her shoulder. Alecto removed Marisol’s glasses and stroked her hair gently, letting her cry until she felt strong enough to sit up, her eyes misty.

“You don’t have to talk to me about what’s bothering you. But you can if you like. I won’t judge, I promise.” Alecto put a gentle arm around her shoulders, giving her a smile.

“I’m struggling with Potions this year. Failing a subject isn’t usually a big deal, but my brother is perfect. He didn’t fail his Potions OWL, so I can’t either. My parents have been pressuring me to do well, which is fine for my other subjects, I can handle the pressure. And…” her voice cracked, and she stopped, letting out a sob and taking a couple of deep breaths.

“Andromeda and her group keep bullying me. They’ve done it since first year, but I’ve always been too scared to speak up. Which was why I had to speak up last year when I saw them targeting you. For some reason, helping someone else comes easier than helping myself. It didn’t get to me, much anyway. Until I started having to handle the stress of failure on top and familial pressure. My younger sister is amazing at Potions, but I’m not. I have to work so hard to get it, and even that isn’t enough. Success in school was always something I could do, until this year. It’s only one subject, but that’s still an issue. I’ve always linked my own personal successes with my own personal worth, which is its own problem.” She shifted in her seat and fiddled with her hair, curling it around her fingers. She dropped eye contact, staring at the table again.

“The bullying was always in the background but recently they’ve been targeting me for deciding to befriend you, like they have a monopoly on who decides to befriend you. You have a right to drop Andromeda as a friend, and if she doesn’t get that, she’s far from in the right. Who is she to try to influence who you spend time with, anyway? I’ve always wanted to be friends with you,anyway, since first year. I was put off by you being friends with Andromeda, but you’re nothing like her. You’re kind, you’re nice, you’re a genuinely good and warm person who cares about others. Which is just the type of person I’d love to be.” Marisol stopped, her voice becoming squeaky towards the end, tear tracks still making their way down her cheeks.

“I’ll tutor you with Potions. I have no problem helping you, I’m sure Lucas also wouldn’t mind. I know a couple of people who are more than happy to tutor. Parental expectations do suck in addition, just because both of your siblings are talented Potioneers doesn’t mean you should also be. You’re far more than your academic worth anyway, which can be hard to realise. I’ve done what you did before myself. Helping other people does tend to come easily to people, helping yourself, especially standing up to bullies is hard. Don’t beat yourself up for struggling with that. Strangely enough, I’ve always wanted to be friends with you, since first year. I was scared to, as you’ve always seemed like you were happy by yourself. You helped me when I needed someone there for me, like both Sophie and Lottie so I consider you as a friend. I help my friends when they’re struggling. I don’t leave people hanging, I’ve never been that type. This gives me even more reason to avoid Andromeda, not only that, but to stand up to her. No wonder she didn’t notice her friends being bullies, if she’s one herself. Bullies never spot their own kind.” Alecto gently caught Marisol’s chin, turning her head towards her and making eye contact with her. 

“R...really? Wow. Guess both of us were scared of the other one, but now we can really be friends then. I’m not used to having someone there for me, so bear with me on that. I feel awful about the project though, Priya was struggling so much with trying to help me. And about being late. That was because I was trying to avoid Andromeda and bumped into her, and she wouldn’t let me leave.” Marisol made eye contact with Alecto, her eyes flashing with surprise at Alecto’s kindness. She felt strange without her glasses on, and vulnerable. She wiped under her eyes, but the tears kept coming.  _ That worked out well. Looks like you actually have a friend then. _

“Not entirely scared of you. More like I have a bit of a crush on you. I’m not sure if you noticed. So it turns me into a bit of an awkward mess.” Alecto blushed, giving her an awkward smile, showing the gap in her front teeth.  _ She’s really pretty. Like so pretty you keep waiting for it to be a dream, that someone like her would talk to you.  _

“Wait. You? Have a crush on me?” Marisol found herself stopping mid sentence, watching Alecto with a question in her eyes and slightly stunned by how Alecto nodded, flashing her a grin again. 

“I very much do. I’m not great around new people, or people in general. You might’ve noticed that. If not, sorry for breaking that news to you. I’ve always thought you were happy to be alone. How much of that was true?” Alecto’s voice was still soft and gentle, she wanted to put Marisol at ease. 

“I do enjoy some alone time. But being alone all the time is hard. Having no friends and being so isolated is hard. I’ve learnt to put on a face to avoid worrying people, but the only issue with that is I regularly fool people. I’d be happy to have just one friend, I don’t mind not having a lot of friends.” Marisol explained, replacing her glasses on her face. She actually enjoyed Alecto’s hand on her chin, it felt odd that she still hadn’t removed it, but she didn’t want her to. Physical touch to her was something she would only allow a small amount of people to do, it was a show of her being comfortable with the person so the fact she hadn’t shied away showed her trust in Alecto. 

“Well, being friends with me does mean becoming part of my group too. So you’re not alone any more. I know it’s not that easy, but be patient and friendships will develop.” Alecto grinned.  _ Maybe you deserve a chance at something new. A genuine, honest relationship. Leaving the old you behind and developing into the new version, with someone who you care about beside you. _

Marisol offered her hand to Alecto. “Friends?” She waited until Alecto’s cold hand linked with her own. 

“Friends.” Alecto grinned in response, moving back her chair. “We should probably be getting back, so we can get to bed in time.” 

Marisol nodded, grabbing her bag and standing, waiting for Alecto to join her. They fell into step with each other, spending the journey deep in conversation.

_ Maybe this was what you were looking for? It’s still early days, but continue being hopeful. _

  
  



End file.
